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What does anaesthesia mean?
Anaesthesia is a word derived from the greek
which literally translated means lack of feeling. More accurately, it describes
both having no feeling in the literal sense and no emotion; not caring. This is
quite an accurate description of the state induced during an operation as simply
being unconscious ("asleep") is not necessarily what it is about. There are
numerous other ways to have an operation and regardless of what anaesthetic
option is chosen by your anaesthesia provider, the part of your body that will
be operated on will be made to have no feeling (see
regional anaesthesia) and
you will be made calm and uncaring about your surroundings.
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Who is an anaesthetist?
This is a general term describing the person
who provides your anaesthetic. In Australia it usually refers to a consultant or
a registrar, who are doctors either fully specialised or training as such. In
country areas it is not unusual for general practitioners to be trained in
anaesthesia also. The name anaesthetist is not used to describe a medical specialist
in the United States.
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Why not an anesthesiologist?
This is an American term for a
anaesthetist. Likewise the American spelling for anaesthesia is anesthesia.
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What makes someone a consultant?
A consultant is a person who serves as the highest level of anaesthesia provider
and has responsibility for any anaesthetic administered. A consultant is a
specialised doctor and therefore the term specialist is interchangeable with
consultant. They have been recognised as a specialist by the
Australian &
New Zealand College of Anaesthetists for completing appropriate training
requirements. A specialist anaesthetist in Australia has completed 6 years of
medicine training, worked as a resident medical officer
for at least two years prior to commencing training in Anaesthesia and then trained for at least five
years prior to becoming a consultant. Thus an anaesthetist has completed medical
school and has been a doctor for at least seven years - coming to a grand total
of at least thirteen years of training. Different parts of the world have
different training requirements.
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What is a specialist?
This is a term simply meaning specialised
doctor and is often used interchangeably with consultant,
as a consultant in medicine is a specialist.
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Who are these registrars?
A registrar is a trainee specialist. They
have been working as resident doctors for a nominal time prior to becoming a
registrar. As registrar they work full time as doctors in public hospitals and
receive additional training coordinated by their hospital training program and
examinations supervised by the Australian &
New Zealand College of Anaesthetists. They receive different levels of supervision by
consultants
according to the complexity of the anaesthetic and their level of experience,
but always have a consultant anaesthetist responsible for every anaesthetic they
administer.
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A jolly good fellow?
The term fellow refers to one who has been
recognised by the college of anaesthetists for reaching the appropriate level to
be considered a specialist - the title FANZCA means diploma of Fellowship of the
Australian &
New Zealand College of Anaesthetists. Often, however, the term fellow is used
to describe a provisional fellow who is a registrar who has completed their
examinations and the first four years of their training and is doing a year in
Anaesthesia in an area they have chosen as a stepping stone into a specialist
role.
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Why are they called residents?
A resident is a Resident Medical
Officer or RMO. They are doctors who are not specialised and are
dedicated to working within the hospital system allocated to work in a
particular speciality. They used to be the doctors that were always in the
hospital so they were called Residents. They are also called Hospital Medical
Officers or HMO.
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When is a doctor an intern?
An intern is a doctor who has just finished
their medical degree and is completing their first year as a doctor in a heavily
supervised hospital role. They usually rotate within different specialities.
Thus they are a first year resident.
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